Seven Things
by Spaidel
Summary: The Seven Things that made Katniss and Peeta fall in love. One-shot.


_I have randomly chosen seven words from my dictionary and made a story on how those seven things made Katniss and Peeta fall in love._

_The idea isn't mine. I took it from yaoifangirlHolly's fic '8 Things That Brought Merlin and Arthur together'. I just really liked the idea._

_The story is AU. Just saying._

_Also, I didn't read the story after I wrote it to check if there are any mistakes. I'm sure there are a lot of mistakes. Please, cope with them if you can._

_So! Let's start with the story._

* * *

**1. Height**

Five-year-old Katniss didn't like heights. She preferred to just stay with both her feet on the ground and never leave it.

So, when she found herself stuck in a tree at the edge of the woods in District Twelve, she really didn't know what to do.

She couldn't jump, it was a tall tree and there were big, pointy rocks on the ground. She was terrified.

She started crying, because she was a scared five-years-old girl and she just hated heights.

And then she heard footsteps, coming closer and closer to her. She looked around her, trying to see who the person who was getting closer to where she was stuck was, but the tears that still ran down her face made it a bit difficult to see. It was all blurry.

Still, she blinked her eyes and tried to get rid of the tears, because she wasn't some weak girl who cried when she felt scared. At least, she didn't want other people to think she was.

She held the tree with her small hands tightly, not going to let go.

And then she heard the voice of a boy. "Are you okay?"

All Katniss could do was shake her head, still crying. She could see the blurry image of a young boy, light hair and fair skin.

But he was little, and he couldn't help her and she knew it.

"Why are you up there?" The boy asked.

"I- I'm stuck!" Katniss sobbed, her voice shaking terribly. "Buttercup… he got on the tree, and I tried to rescue him, he kept – he kept howling, so I tried to help him, and – and now I'm stuck! And he left me here, he didn't need my help, and – and…"

Katniss couldn't take it anymore and cried some more.

The boy stayed quiet for a long time. "Why don't you jump?"

"The… the rocks, I don't want to – I might hit them, I don't…"

"I'll move the rocks away," The boy said, and Katniss could hear him moving some of the bigger rocks out of the way.

Katniss didn't cry as much as before and now she could see things less blurrily. She looked at the boy who was helping her, and saw that he was somehow familiar. Maybe from school.

When he finished his task, he turned to look at Katniss. "Jump," He instructed.

Katniss bit her lower lip. "What if I'll get hurt?"

"You won't." He sounded confident.

"How do you know that?"

"I'll catch you."

Katniss looked at the small kid who was standing at the bottom of the tree, then took a deep breath.

"To the count of three," The boy said, stretching his hands to catch her when she falls. "One… Two… Three!"

And Katniss jumped. Because she trusted that boy to catch her, because he was here for her when she was scared beyond belief.

The boy, obviously, wasn't very strong, he was just five years old himself, so when Katniss hit him in her fall, he got to the ground with her with a loud 'humph!'.

Katniss, who was on top of him, immediately got away and sat down next to him.

"Are you okay?" She asked worryingly, because the boy didn't look okay. His eyes were still closed.

And then he smiled. "I told you I'd catch you."

And Katniss smiled too, because the boy was just really stupid. She told him that, and his smile just grew bigger. He didn't seem offended by her opinion.

"I know you from school," Katniss said finally, sure that she did.

The boy nodded his head. "You're Katniss Everdeen. I remember you from class. You sang."

Katniss's face flushed, because she was embarrassed to sing in front of a crowd, and this boy heard her singing.

"I like your voice," He said, making her feel even more embarrassed. He then offered her his hand. "My name is Peeta. Peeta Mellark."

* * *

**2. Blue**

Katniss and Peeta were best friends ever since that day when Katniss was stuck in a tree. Katniss felt like she owed Peeta at first and because of that she started hanging out with him, but later she started to actually enjoy the other boy's presence. He was easy to talk to, and she liked him.

They were ten now, and they were both sitting outside of Peeta's family's bakery, eating some delicious cupcakes.

"I love that color," Peeta said, smiling as he ate his orange cupcake. "It's my favorite color."

Katniss looked at the color of his cupcake and shrugged. "I don't like it."

Peeta raised an eyebrow at her. "So what is your favorite color?"

Katniss didn't really need to think about it. "Blue."

She didn't know why this was her favorite color. It just was.

Maybe didn't make the connection then, that her favorite color was the color of her best friend's eyes.

* * *

**3. Improvise**

Twelve-year-old Katniss gulped loudly, her hands sweating, her legs shaking.

Peeta was there, of course, to help her through. "You sing amazing, Katniss," He told her encouragingly, pushing her slightly to the small stage.

Katniss turned to look at her best friend with wide eyes. "I don't know what to sing about."

"That's why it's called Improvisation," Peeta said. "Just let the words come from you."

"There are no words in me."

Peeta smiled at her pale face. "Just improvise. We tried it before, you're an awesome improviser. Just… just let the words flow. Sing the first thing you think about. Improvise."

So she did it. She walked to the stage and improvised.

She didn't really realized it back then, but in her improvised song there were the words, 'Baking', 'Best Friend' and 'Peeta'.

* * *

**4. Doughnut**

Fourteen-year-old Katniss looked at Peeta with a raised eyebrow.

"Aren't you bored?" She asked him.

Peeta looked up at her questioningly. "Bored? Are you kidding me? Icing cakes is awesome."

Katniss rolled her eyes and moved closer to him. "Let's bake something," She suggested.

Peeta hesitated, biting his lower lip. He looked at the half-iced cake in front of him. "But what about the cake?"

"Come on, Peeta, I'm bored. I want to do something. Watching you icing cakes is incredibly boring."

Peeta frowned at her. "Icing cakes is lovely."

"So is baking."

Peeta bit his lower lip again, then nodded his head. "Fine. What do you have in mind?"

Katniss looked at the baking-books around her. "Let's make doughnuts," She said finally.

"Doughnuts? I've never actually made doughnuts," Peeta said worryingly.

"So that would be your first time," Katniss smiled and grabbed the doughnuts book from a shelf nearby.

"It'd be disgusting," Peeta warned her.

Katniss smiled. "It won't be."

It was.

Extremely disgusting.

Peeta and Katniss were both covered in dough when they finished making the doughnuts-from-hell, and were laughing because of how stupid they looked.

Katniss smiled widely at Peeta. "You look like a dough man," She said.

"And your face is covered with dough," Peeta laughed and reached out to wipe a piece of dough off her face.

Katniss shivered as he touched her face, feeling something fluttering in her stomach.

Peeta looked at her questioningly. "Are you okay?"

Katniss avoided his eyes without actually knowing why. "Yeah. Just a bit cold."

Katniss convinced herself that she shivered from the cold, ignoring the fact that it was the warmest summer to ever be in District Twelve.

* * *

**5. Hilarious**

The years passed and Katniss and Peeta were both seventeen.

They were sitting in Katniss's tiny room, watching a stupid show on the small TV.

"…and here with us today is Effie Trinket, who's going to teach us what Mahogany is…"

The colorful woman with the wig walked to the stage, smiling to the applauding crowd. She looked at the different tables in front of her with a calculating look.

Finally, she pointed at one of the tables and declared, "THAT IS MAHOGANY!"

Katniss snorted. "Oh, jeez, those Capitol shows…"

"Well, without those helpful shows you'd have never known that that table was MAHOGANY!" Peeta said, emphasizing the last word.

Katniss laughed. "What was that again? I don't think I heard you."

"MAHOGANY!"

Katniss and Peeta both laughed hysterically, feeling happy and carefree and young.

"Oh, she's hilarious," Katniss smiled at the TV, where they could still see the enthusiastic Effie yelling, "MAHOGANY! MAHOGANY!" while pointing at different tables.

Katniss wiped some tears off her face, still smiling widely, and turned to look at her best friend who was sitting next to her, about to make her best imitation of the hilarious woman, and froze in her place.

She froze because she didn't except him to look at her that way. Best friends didn't look at each other that way, so… emotional, so lovingly. It made her feel something stirring in her stomach, made her feel a bit dizzy and a lot confused.

She turned to look back at the screen, unable to erase from her mind the way Peeta, her best friend, looked at her.

She didn't even find the mahogany-loving woman on TV that funny anymore.

* * *

**6. Look**

A few months later, Katniss was feeling rather confused.

She started to notice the way Peeta looked at her more and more, and she felt unnerved by it.

She also started to notice things she didn't really notice before. Like the way his face lit up when she came into the room, or how he touched her lightly every once in a while, or how he called her beautiful when she was feeling sad.

She didn't know why he was doing it exactly.

She didn't know if she liked it or not.

She didn't want to think about it.

Problem was, she always thought about it. Always. He was the last thing on her mind when she went to sleep and the first thing on her mind when she woke up. He was always there, in her mind, and she felt suffocated.

She tried to avoid him at first. This whole thing was just so confusing. They were best friends for twelve years. Twelve years. That's a long time. They were always just that – best friends.

And now, she was thinking about something more than that.

And it frightened her.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Peeta asked her as she walked to her house after school. His house wasn't close to her house, but he still always walked her to her house before walking to his.

"I'm not," Katniss said stiffly and continued walking.

"You are."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm not!"

"You are!"

"Fine, I am. Happy?" God, the whole thing was so ridiculous. Maybe Peeta didn't even like her like that and she just read too much into things…

"Why?" Peeta asked, not understanding why suddenly she wanted to avoid him.

Katniss didn't want to tell him, because maybe she was wrong, and even if she wasn't and Peeta actually had feelings for her, it embarrassed her. So she just shrugged her shoulders and continued walking.

"Katniss, are you mad at me?" Peeta asked, uncertain.

Katniss stopped in her place and turned to look at him. He looked so confused. She bit her lower lip.

"I'm not mad at you," She said finally.

"So what is it then?" Peeta asked, confused even more.

Katniss couldn't keep it inside of her any longer. "You look at me funnily."

Peeta looked surprised. "…what?"

"You look at me with that… I don't know, it's confusing me, I…" Katniss really didn't know what to tell him, so she decided to shut up.

"What do you mean, funnily?" Peeta asked.

"I don't know. Lovingly. Too lovingly." God this was so embarrassing.

Peeta raised his eyebrows. "Oh."

"Yes." Really, she didn't know what to say.

"So, you're… I'm looking at you… lovingly?"

"Too lovingly," Katniss corrected.

"And that's a bad thing?" Peeta looked lost.

Katniss sighed. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Peeta ran a hand through his hair and looked at her. Katniss felt the urge to look away, but didn't.

"You know why," He said finally.

Katniss shook her head. "No. I really don't." She knew what it meant, at least she thought she knew, but she had to hear it from him.

Peeta knew it obviously and sighed. "You just want me to say it, don't you?"

There was no need to pretend. Katniss nodded her head.

Peeta ran a hand through his hair once again. "I love you."

Katniss expected that, those words. What she didn't was the warm feeling that spread in her body as he said those words, and those awfully wonderful butterflies in her stomach.

"Since when?" She asked finally, wanting to know the answer.

Peeta looked surprised, not expecting to hear that. "Since we were five."

"Five?" Oh, God, since they were five?

"Since you sang in class, actually," Peeta corrected.

"Since then?" Katniss was shocked.

"Yes."

"And you didn't tell me."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because… you don't think of me that way," Peeta said honestly.

Katniss raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

Peeta looked surprised. "So, you like me? The way I like you?"

Katniss hesitated. "I'm confused," She admitted finally.

"Confused?" Peeta looked hopeful.

Katniss bit her lip. "I don't know. I just… I don't know what I feel."

Peeta hesitated, then got closer to her. He put a stray of her hair behind her ear. Katniss felt herself blushing and wanted to go back a few steps, but still wanted to stay in her place at the same time.

"When you figure things out… well, then tell me," Peeta said quietly. Katniss inhaled sharply when she felt his breath on her skin, he was standing so, so close to her, and after a few moments of silence Peeta turned and walked away.

* * *

**7. Boat**

Katniss had a dream that night.

She dreamt that Peeta wanted to go and see the world and sailed in his boat. She dreamt that he didn't even say goodbye before he left. She dreamt that they never met again.

Which was stupid. It was District Twelve, not Four. Peeta didn't have a boat.

But still, it made her think. What she felt in the dream… she felt helpless. Insecure. Lost. Unhappy.

Broken hearted.

Did it mean she loved him?

She really didn't know.

So she kept avoiding talking to Peeta, who looked hurt by that but didn't pressure her to talk to him.

She hated not talking to him. She hated it. Those days were the worst in her life.

And in the end, she couldn't take it anymore.

She walked to his house, feeling as if she was about to collapse to the ground. She felt like a shaking leaf.

The walk from her house to Peeta's house was longer than normal, probably because she walked as slow as Buttercup when he was forced to take a bath.

When she did get to his house, she knocked quietly.

No one answered.

She felt relieved for a moment, hoping that she won't have to talk about her feelings, and then the door opened and Peeta's mom stood in front of her with a disdainful look. The woman hated her.

She turned to look at the stairs behind her impatiently. "Peeta, Everdeen is here to see you!" She then stepped back into the house and walked to her small room. Katniss walked into the house, her heart beating in her chest, and closed the door behind her.

Only a few seconds later and Peeta appeared, smiling widely at the embarrassed Katniss.

Katniss walked up the stairs and he led her to his familiar room. She was here so many times, sometimes it felt like it was her room, too.

She sat down awkwardly in Peeta's chair while he sat down on his bed, looking at her expectantly.

She didn't talk. She didn't know how to get the words out.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

"Why did you come?" Peeta asked finally, breaking the silence.

Katniss breathed deeply. "I miss you."

Peeta bit his lower lip. "I miss you too."

A long, uncomfortable silence.

"Did you sort things out?" Peeta asked.

Katniss shook her head. "I don't know how I feel. I just… I'm confused."

Peeta ran a hand through his hair. "How do you feel right now?"

Katniss looked at him questioningly, then answered his question. "Nervous."

Peeta hesitated for a moment, then got to his feet and walked to where Katniss was sitting. Katniss looked at him with widened eyes in alarm.

Peeta kneeled down in front of her and put his hand on her knee. "And now?"

Katniss avoided his eyes. "What now?"

"How do you feel right now?"

Katniss sighed and tried to concentrate on her feelings. "Still nervous. Anxious. Scared. Excited." And, for some reason, it was the best feeling in the world.

Peeta looked at her face searchingly, then got to his feet and bent in front of her. "Okay, so… I'm going to kiss you right now," He told her matter-of-factly.

Katniss raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What? Peeta –"

"No, Katniss, listen. I'm going to kiss you for ten seconds. You can stop me whenever you like. If you do, then it probably means you don't like me like that. But, if you don't… well, then at least you'll know."

Katniss gulped loudly. Peeta's face was so close to hers, she felt nervous. His eyes, his blue eyes, looked right into hers, and she didn't want, couldn't, look away. She was drawn to him.

He cupped her cheek with his warm hand, and Katniss could feel some of the butterflies that were fluttering in her stomach explode.

And then his lips covered hers, and she felt electricity running through her veins. This feeling was so unfamiliar, she froze in her place for a few moments, then started to kiss Peeta back.

It felt brilliant, it was amazing. Katniss put her hands on Peeta's face, trying to get him closer to her, impossibly closer, as his hands moved to her waist.

The kiss lasted longer than ten seconds.

In the end it was Peeta to break the kiss. His cheeks were red, and Katniss was sure her cheeks were just as red as his, if not even more.

They stayed silent for a long while, just looking at each other uncertainly.

"So," Peeta said finally, "Did it… do you know how you feel now? How… do you like me?"

Katniss bit her lower lip, then smiled. "You know, feeling is a complicated thing. It takes a long time for people to realize what they're actually feeling."

Peeta looked disappointed. "Oh."

Katniss nodded her head. "I think we need to kiss a bit more. You know, to sort all those feelings out."

Peeta didn't look disappointed anymore.

* * *

_I don't actually ship Katniss/Peeta, I prefer Gale/Katniss or even Cato/Katniss, but I still decided to write a story about Katniss/Peeta, because I've never written anything about them. Until now, at least._

_And I know that Katniss's favorite color is not blue. It's green. But I changed it to blue, because it fits with the story._

_Reviews make me feel happy, which means reviews make you happy, because you know that your review just made me feel happy._

_Reviews = A happy me = A happy you = Everyone's happy!_

_Hope you enjoyed it, and have a lovely day :)_


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